by Brigitte Peck

Created on: June 23, 2009

I've been a Carolina Tarheels basketball fan my entire life. However, when the NBA draft gets underway on Thursday, I won't be watching to see Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, and Danny Green. No, I'll be watching because of Stephen Curry who did what a Secretary of State (Dean Rusk), a bestselling author (Patricia Cornwell), a Fox News anchor (the late Tony Snow), and a former ACC basketball coach (Terry Holland) were unable to do - put tiny Davidson College on the map. With a sweet jump shot and a million dollar smile, Stephen Curry captured the hearts of basketball fans across the country during the team's run in the 2008 NCAA tournament. Suddenly, people who had never heard of Davidson College (and it is a college - not a university) knew all about the school's honor code and laundry service. They no longer confused Davidson (North Carolina) with Denison (Ohio) or Dickinson (Pennsylvania). Strangers high fived me when they saw my Davidson window sticker and my children's friends in Atlanta finally forgave them for not being Georgia Bulldog fans. It was a good day to be a Wildcat and it was all because of Stephen Curry.

His story is well known among basketball fans. His parents were super star athletes for Virginia Tech and it was his dream to follow his father first to Blacksburg and then to the NBA. However, he was skinny and looked like he was twelve. Coaches from the bigger conferences were ignoring him, and that suited Davidson coach Bob McKillop just fine. McKillop had his eye on Stephen Curry from the time the young player first came to his summer basketball camp. As larger programs continued to ignore Curry, Davidson continued to recruit him. When Curry finalized his decision to come to Davidson, the Coach calmly shook his hand and then as he walked out of sight, danced a jig! He knew what no one else seemed to. Stephen Curry was a big time basketball player and he was bringing his game to the little college that could.

There was a time when Davidson held its own in Division 1 athletics. That time was a long time ago. However, this liberal arts college with only 1,600 students is dedicated to remaining a Division 1 school. Although most of the basketball games are waged against conference foes such as Appalachian State University and Elon College, the early part of the schedule always includes in-state behemoths like UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University. By his sophomore year, Stephen Curry was one of the nation's

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